(CNN) - Mitt Romney's running mate declared their ticket scored a win at Tuesday night's debate while campaigning in the battleground of Ohio on Wednesday.

Campaigning with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio in Berea, a suburb of Cleveland, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Romney "had a fantastic first debate... and last night – same thing."- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

A CNN/ORC International poll of debate watchers found Romney overwhelmingly won the October 3 face off, while a Tuesday night survey found debate watchers were divided 46% for President Barack Obama, 39% Romney. The difference was within the sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 points.

Both sides claimed victory.

Ryan said that Obama had brought little substance to the debate.

"We saw a president offering not a single new idea on how to turn things around," he said at Baldwin Wallace University. "We saw a president not offer a single idea or a lesson learned from the failures of the last four years."

He asserted the Democratic president "basically has one new idea: raise taxes even more."

Romney's showing, he said, stood in contrast to Obama.

"But what we saw in Governor Mitt Romney was a leader who has the solutions, who has the ideas of how to turn this economy around, how to get people back to work and how to get America back on the right track," Ryan said.

He did not specifically refer to Romney's response to a debate question on gender inequality – a response which sparked conversation in social media – but did say there was "a discussion about how women are faring in this economy last night."

"Five and a half million women are still struggling for work in this economy," he said. "A half million women more are unemployed today than when President Obama was sworn in. Twenty-six million women are trapped in poverty today. That is the highest rate in 17 years. We need to get people back to work."

In 2008, Obama claimed victory in Ohio with 51.2% of the vote but he won an even larger margin - 69% - in Cuyahoga County, where this rally was held.

On Wednesday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that more than 1.4 million Ohioans have either cast or requested an absentee ballot for this year's election.

Obama held an evening campaign event in Ohio and earlier rallied in Iowa. Romney, meanwhile, held events in Virginia.

Ryan, who was also scheduled to attend a fundraiser and roundtable discussion in the Columbus area Wednesday evening, said Obama's tactic in the election has been to "speak to our darker emotions of fear and of envy and anxiety."

Rice introduced Ryan to the audience of more than 1,800 people in Berea and drew applause when she shared stories about her upbringing and the nation being at a crossroads.

When Ryan came on stage, he said the former secretary of state was a "tough act to follow" for the second time - they had appeared on the same night at the Republican National Convention – and he joked that it was "a little intimidating."

Rice, who served as President George W. Bush's secretary of state in his second term and as National Security adviser in the first term, did not comment specifically on Tuesday's debate or weigh in on Romney's response to a question about how he would differentiate himself from her former boss.

During the debate, Romney noted he and Bush are "different people" and said he would "champion" small businesses and focus on jobs.

"President Bush has a very different path for a very different time. My path is designed in getting small businesses to grow and hire people," said Romney at the debate, which was moderated by CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

The GOP presidential nominee criticized the last Republican president for not balancing the budget and not cracking down on China on unfair trade practices.

Instead, Rice focused on a local connection. A football fanatic and lifelong Cleveland Browns fan, Rice joined Portman and Ryan for a visit to her favorite team's training complex nearby.

The three pols talked up new owner Jimmy Haslam and head coach Pat Shurmur. The seven-term congressman from Wisconsin met number 73 and University of Wisconsin alum Jay Thomas. The offensive tackle and the vice presidential hopeful swapped stories about hunting in their home state.

When Ryan addressed the team, he acknowledged Thomas and said he is a "big Badger fan" but made no mention of his National Football League team of choice, the Green Bay Packers.

The players gathered near the end zone, many of them kneeling on one knee as they listened to him. Ryan told them, "I went to Miami of Ohio, so half my friends are from Cleveland, half my friends are from Cincinnati, and all my friends from Cincinnati are pretty ticked off today."

soundoff(37 Responses)

Sniffit

"When 90% of CNN's viewers are lefties, what do you expect?"

Are you dense or just lying? They quite clearly reported that, not only was the breakdown 33% Dem and 33% republican in their poll, but that the poll sampling skewed by approximately 8% in favor of Republicans. They of course then went on to keep blabbering that the poll was "scientific" and completely and utterly ignored the massive skew an 8% oversample of Republicans would create, even when the results were showing that Obama came out with the win, but that's to be expected: CNN wanted the horse race "tie' narrative and they sold it like champs.

October 17, 2012 03:24 pm at 3:24 pm |

JEN

your wrong texas, if you heard what Wolf said that more republican were watching the debate on CNN.

October 17, 2012 03:25 pm at 3:25 pm |

MNAnonymous!

One thing is for sure: Mr. Romney was able to look like an arrogant bully and clueless about facts at the same time... I guess that for Mr. Ryan that is a big win!
Oh I forgot... he also made a fool of himself with the binder comment!

October 17, 2012 03:30 pm at 3:30 pm |

cbr

Mr. Ryan had time to be at an NFL practice. He could not arrive at a food kitchen on time. He had to be seen washing pots in a photo op. This man needs to set his priorities straight.

October 17, 2012 03:39 pm at 3:39 pm |

Vote for Seamus, elect Kolob's next dog catcher

Lyan Ryan, what else can he say? Romney hung the moon. It was a banner day. Billy Graham even delisted him as a cult member. Liars are people, just like corporations. Raises for management, cutbacks for the overpaid worker bees, who are lazy in comparison and won't accept responsibility for themselves.

Mr. Ryan can quote all those numbers but when Congress was in session he and his fellow Republicans did nothing to help the economy. They did spend billions on the war and could have insisted that those who had contracts hire more women. He and the rest of the members of Congress had ample opportunity to help and they did not. The Republicans talk about women's issues as if they all revolve around fertility. They lack substance and do not want women to do better. I think they know that if they do their membership in Congress will not be renewed and a woman will be his replacement. Not one male Republican was as good a speaker as Condaleeza Rice. The men were in her wake.

Perhaps he doesn't see the number of women running the registers in the big box store. Their salaries won't do much to support their families.

October 17, 2012 03:48 pm at 3:48 pm |

Roger

Was Paul listening and watching the same debate the rest of us were? Perhaps he needs his eyes and ears adjusted. I think yours and Mittens lies have taken you as far as you're going to get – we're all on to you now!

October 17, 2012 03:53 pm at 3:53 pm |

PJ

"Ryan said that Obama had brought little substance to the debate".
***
Well, if a person has no substance of his own, then it would be hard for him to recognize substance from someone
who does have it.

October 17, 2012 04:01 pm at 4:01 pm |

Anonymous

"a Tuesday night survey found debate watchers were divided 46% for President Barack Obama, 39% Romney. The difference was within the sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 points. "

Does NOONE in your organization do math??? 46% – 39% = 7% which is much LARGER THAN 4.5%. WHY would you report a 46 to 39 difference as within the sampling error of 4.5?

October 17, 2012 04:04 pm at 4:04 pm |

The REAL Truth...

It's a shame to see that Ryan is as deluded about a so-called GOP win as are the rest of the right wing. Willard got creamed last night and the American (and Amurikan) people who tuned in got to see a cry-baby bully, a rude, aggravated and arrogant GOP candidate who failed miserably, had no respect for either the POTUS or the moderator and flip-flopped once again on pretty much everything, including his dismal attack on the POTUS over Libya. Thanks for playing..